Kindred Hearts
by Copper Thrice
Summary: David, Maria, Scott, and Cathy live normal lives until a new breed of Heartless attack their homeworld. Postponed indefinatly.
1. Chapter 1: The Siege

Kindred Hearts

A "Kingdom Hearts" Fan Fiction by B.D.Taylor

The Siege

It was a pleasant, spring day and the world was calm. Everyone in the little town that surrounded a small park was going about their days in a sense of calm. Yes, everything in this little town was at a sense of peace. Everyone, that is, but a boy in the park. A boy by the name of David.

"Okay," David said quietly trying to gather himself. "Keep it together." David was desperately trying to calm himself, to no apparent effect. David was a slender boy of fifteen years with black hair that he kept short. He had dressed himself out today with his favorite T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. The park was where he was to meet with an old friend of his. There was just one problem.

So what if Maria's a girl, He thought. Just talk to her like you would to Scott. She's been your friend for five years for crying out loud. David sat below an oak tree. The problem with that theory was that Maria was a girl and it felt different than when talking to Scott. "Gaaah," he yelled leaning against the tree. Why did I get myself into this?

Little did David know is that he was not the only one with that question on his mind. Why did I get myself into this, thought a girl who was hiding behind an oak tree opposite of David's tree. If you haven't guessed, the girl behind the tree is Maria. Why did I ask him to meet me here? She thought. Maria was a fifteen year old girl with medium length brown hair. She was dressed in her traditional ensemble of a grey T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

She decided to see how David was doing while he was waiting for her. "Gaaah!" he yelled leaning against the oak tree. Maria ducked back behind her tree. Great, she thought, now he's getting impatient about waiting for me. Although I have, sorta, kept him waiting. "Arrrgh," she growled leaning against the tree.

If you haven't guessed yet, the two of them (David and Maria) are in the same boat.

Maria made up her mind. She would walk over, say hi, have a conversation. No problem, right? She left the safety of her tree and began to walk casually over to David. David saw her and immediately rose up and walked over to her.

"Hey, Maria. How's it goin," he asked casually. However his mind went through a constant stream of one thought, KeepittogetherKeepittogetherKeepittogether.

"Oh, I'm just fine. How about you, David." Maria replied, a similar thought buzzing through her head.

The two of them were so distracted that they didn't notice a rustling in the bushes nearby. The rustling was Scott, he was watching his best friend David through the bushes. Scott was fifteen and he had brown hair that draped his forehead and he wore khakis with a tan shirt. David had told him not to come earlier at school, but out of curiosity, Scott just had to come. Next to Scott was Maria's best friend, Cathy, a fifteen year old girl with long brown hair. Cathy wore her favorite skirt and a red blouse. She got a similar message from Maria and met with Scott as they followed their friends. Cathy and Scott were not the best of friends, but they did want to see what was going on here. Scott grew bored when David just stuck to pleasantries when talking so he wanted to ask Cathy a few questions about Maria.

When he turned to look at her she was staring straight up. It was then that Scott realized that it had gotten darker pretty quickly. He got a better look at Cathy and saw that fear practically covered her face. Scott was confused so he looked up as well. Scott's eyes bulged and in his shock he stood up, revealing his position.

Maria and David saw Scott practically jump up from the bushes, staring upwards.

"Hey what's Scott doing here?" Maria asked. David took more interest into what Scott was looking at. When Maria turned to face David his head was turned upward with his mouth hanging open. Maria slowly turned her head upward and saw what had garnered so much attention.

The sky was full of black "holes". These holes seemed to tear open the skies and empty into pure blackness. Slowly large masses of dark metal floated from the holes in the skies. The masses looked like some kind of space vessels from a Sci-Fi movie only somehow more menacing. Maybe it was because they were real.

From the ship came hundreds of small, rocket-like, drop-ships. They poured from the large ships and floated into the town.

Cathy and Scott ran towards David and Maria.

"Maria, what's going on?" Cathy asked shakily. Maria just shook her head. Suddenly, her knees weakened as she heard a terrifying sound.

Screaming

It was coming from the town. It was as if a blanket of calm had been thrown off to reveal pure chaos.

Scott slowly turned to David, "Are-are they… you know…" He said shakily, "**Heartless**?" All David could do was nod his head slowly.

David then set to work amid the cries of the town. He found a sturdy, fallen, oak branch and he stripped it of its leaves and small branches. He then took up a more commanding personality, like he was just changing masks. Maria could have sworn he was a different person.

"Come on, guys, we have to get to the shelter." He yelled and ran to the park shelter. The group followed him. As they followed, David stayed a few feet behind, constantly checking his surroundings. His tree branch held in front of him like a sword. Scott led Maria and Cathy to the shelter.

The Shelter was a small wooden building with a roof, concrete floor, wooden tables, and a large fireplace. Scott was leading them there to hide in the empty fireplace. It was only used in the fall and the winter so luckily they could hide in it now.

Scott and David had found out that you could hide a bunch of people in a corner of the fireplace. They had used it as a "secret hideout" when they were little kids. Now it would serve another purpose: They needed to survive.

Scott found the nook and ushered Cathy and Maria in. Maria went in immediately, but it took some coaxing to get Cathy to enter the soot covered walls while wearing her favorite skirt. Scott entered last and signaled to David to follow.

David quickly took a few steps towards the fireplace when he froze. He saw an unnatural black **shadow** flow in front of him. The **shadow** rose up until it gained a four-dimensional form. Its body was covered in the deep black of darkness. Its body was slight and slender. Its two hands and feet were clawed. Its head was round with black antennae. Most notable was its eyes. They were big, yellow and unblinking. They seemed to look straight into David's soul through David's own eyes. It was a Heartless, more specifically, a Shadow.

David shot Scott a look that told Scott an awful truth:

It's only seen me. I'm gonna distract it. Stay hidden.

David shot off the shelter floor and the Shadow followed. Maria almost followed him, but Scott held her back with all his might and Cathy covered her mouth. When Maria finally freed herself she froze on the edge of the shelter. Scott and Cathy also froze on the edge of the concrete floor. What the three saw would etch itself into their minds forever.

On a building in the city, two figures in black cloaks lined with silver, looked out over they town as the Heartless ravaged it. One figure was like a giant compared to his short companion. The short one walked back and forth on top impatiently. He then spoke in his childish voice.

"Have we filled our quota yet?" He asked arrogantly, his face invisible beneath his dark hood.

His giant of a companion replied to him in a throaty, deep voice, "It will take time. Be patient. Find something to watch while you wait."

The small figure crossed his arms and sat on the building's edge. "Whatever," he said, "You see one Heartless raid, you've seen 'em all." Suddenly something caught his eye.

Well, well, well, he thought, some kid is actually trying to fight the Heartless. The small figure's gaze fell on the park in the center of town.

David yelled as he swung his wooden weapon around. He grew discouraged when he found that it merely went through the Heartless. They hardly noticed the branch. The wood flowed through them like water.

David continued to run, but more and more Shadows surrounded him. Eventually, he was backed into a virtual corner, Shadows surrounded him. Their claws extending towards him and their beady, yellow eyes staring coldly. David then felt pure dread in the pit of his stomach as the Shadows backed off a little. David slowly turned and dropped his staff at the sight.

It was a new kind of Heartless. It was humanoid in form and covered in armor and a flowing black cloak. It's armor was lined with dark reds, blues and purples, but its gauntlets were pure black and its eyes yellow and beady like its minions. On its chest was the symbol of the Heartless: A black heart lined with red and stitched together with red thread.

Slowly, David turned to face the shelter. He saw his friends standing staring at him, but most of his attention was on Maria. She had something in her eyes that calmed him somewhat. He slowly allowed a small smile to creep across his face and a tear to fall from his cheek.

The black gauntlet of the Heartless rushed out from its cloak and grabbed David's head. David gave one final scream as he was enveloped in darkness, pure darkness.

In an instant, the shadows disappeared…

and so had David.

The small, cloaked figure instantly resumed his bored composure as the child disappeared.

The giant in the cloak shook suddenly and looked towards the small-cloaked figure.

"Our quota has been met." He said with his deep voice. The small figure stood and pulled back his hood to reveal his face.

He looked like a child with fair features and dark-grey hair. Most notable was his smile, a big toothy smile that seemed out of place. It was pure joy. The child whistled and a new "hole" appeared in the sky. Out of it came three silver-grey ships with blue linings. From those ships came hundreds of drop-ships and fighters. The fighters cleared out five of the Heartless ships and the drop-ships shipped out soldiers clad in silver-grey armor. Blades came out of the arms of their armor and the blades glinted like silver moonlight.

One drop-ship set down ten troops next to the child in the cloak. The child looked at the fight between his troops and the Heartless and his smile spread broader.

Anticipation.

The child held out his arm and a spear made of the same substance as his soldier's blades appeared. He clutched his spear and leapt forward off the building. He landed with a low thud and stood erect, his soldiers behind him.

"Aright, boys," he said beginning his charge towards the Heartless, "Time to cull the heard!" His spear slew a Heartless Shadow and it dissolved. A red crystal appeared where the Shadow was slain, but it quickly disappeared.

Maria fell to her knees after she saw David disappear. The pain of hitting her knees against concrete could not cut through her sadness. She was on the verge of tears. Cathy knelt to comfort her friend. The Heartless that took David had left. Obviously, something had drawn them away.

Scott stared in disbelief. His best friend had been swallowed by darkness because he had to save them. Scott couldn't move, he was frozen; body and mind.

Maria composed herself and became angry. She rose up and gripped Scott by the collar and shoved him against a pole that kept the shelter's roof up.

"You obviously know what's going on here," She said, her face low, her voice dripping with anger. "So…" she said slowly raising her head, "What's going on!?! What just happened to David!?!" She yelled at him. Scott could see tears forming in her hazel eyes.

Something caught Scott's eye that kept him silent. He stared just past her, wide-eyed, and she followed his gaze.

A Shadow had run into the park and it was looking around hurriedly. Maria's eyes grew as wide as Scott's. It ran towards them, but it was not alone.

Two grey soldiers jumped above the trees and onto the little Shadow. One of the soldiers quickly dispatched it with its sword arm. The Shadow dissipated and the red crystal within it floated then blinked out.

"**Nobodies**?" Scott whispered in disbelief. The group backed away as the two soldiers noticed the three and walked towards them.

A black figure appeared behind the soldiers and Cathy heard the sound of a blade cutting through air.

Suddenly, the two soldiers stopped and fell into halves. The halves were hollow, Maria noticed, but the halves also disintegrated before they hit the ground. Then the three saw their "Savior".

It was another type of Heartless. It was humanoid and it was covered in a black muscle-like suit with dark red lining. From its wrists to its elbows it had armor that was lined with dark blue. From its knees down was the same type of armor. Its chest bore the Heartless symbol. Its head and face was covered with a dark black helmet and the Symbol made up its mask.

In its hand was a sword that had a small, short chain hanging off it with a Heartless symbol on the end. Its blade was dark black with two red lined knives jutting out the opposite side of the blade. It looked kind of like a key.

"A **Keyblade**…" Whispered Scott. He quickly closed his mouth, but the Heartless had already heard him.

As it turned to them, eight grey soldiers dropped down from the roof and surrounded the Heartless. In just a second, he had sliced them all. They all just disintegrated beneath his feet.

The Heartless stopped when it heard clapping. It looked up to see the form of a child in a black cloak with silver lining, clapping.

"Very nice," the kid said stopping his applause. "It's been a while since I had a challenge."

The child quickly stood up and a spear appeared in his hands. He then through the spear at the Heartless.

The Heartless almost dodged it completely. It tore off a portion of its mask. The Heartless gripped at it's mask and tore it off along with its helmet.

Maria gasped.

It was David.

David was the Heartless.

End of Part 1


	2. Chapter 2: The Heartless

The Heartless

When Scott saw the spear fly in, he knew someone was above them. He grabbed Cathy and Maria and flung them off the other side of the shelter. He ran after them and saw that they were staring back at the Heartless. It was then that Scott saw that the Heartless had David's face. Frozen he watched as events unfolded.

"Well", the cloaked child continued, "Aren't you quick." The child raised his arm and the spear returned to his hand. The child raised the spear again and spoke, "Nice job, but I betcha can't dodge—"

"David" did not give the kid enough time to continue his threat. Quickly, he used his Keyblade to slice the supporting beams for the shelter. The shelter shook and the child lost his balance. The Heartless jumped above him, his Keyblade held high.

Scott ducked as the force from the Keyblade's impact destroyed the shelter. Pieces of concrete and wood flew about. The three friends were pelted by fragments.

"David" looked around the remains.

No body. No Kill.

"David" turned around and saw the child atop a tree.

"Aw, man!" The child exclaimed, "This is just TOO FUN!" The child used his spear to sever branches from the tree and he held in midair with a flick from his hand. He stuck his spear into the tree's remains and held out his arms lengthwise.

"As I was saying," He said with an inhuman smile, "Betcha can't dodge THIS!" He turned his hands and the branches became duplicates of his spear. With a laugh, he thrust his arms forward and the spears flew towards "David".

"David" dug in his heel and deflected the first spear with his blade. Then he sidestepped the second and third and blocked the fourth with his gauntlet. He jumped over the rest and threw his Keyblade at the child.

The smile fled from the kid's face as he quickly reached for his spear, but he was too slow. With the point only feet away from his face, he closed his eyes.

The child slowly opened his eyes, seconds later, to find the point of the blade hardly an inch from the bridge of his nose. The Keyblade had been halted because it now was stuck into the side of a large, double-bladed sword of the same style as his spear.

Breathing heavily, the child looked up the sword to see his giant companion at the hilt of the blade.

"David" held out his hand and the Keyblade blinked out of sight and reappeared in his hand. The giant in the cloak's hood had been pulled back to reveal a hard, stern face with grey eyes and brown hair, slicked back. The man easily slung the giant sword onto his back and spoke in a deep, throaty voice.

"Time to go, Narax," His words holding great authority over the boy. The boy rose shakily and picked up his spear. He opened a black portal with a wave of his hand and disappeared.

The giant man turned to "David" and spoke, "We shall meet again, warrior. My name is Ronx." The giant turned and disappeared into the portal.

"David" stood staring at the portal as it disappeared. In the sky, remaining Heartless ships disappeared into their own dark portals. The grey ships did the same, their job was done.

As "David" turned around to the three friends, he found himself caught in a tight hug from Maria. Instantly, his body went stiff and his hands gripped the Keyblade tighter.

Behind Maria, Scott was halfway to her, a scared expression on his face. Cathy was frozen to the grass in terror.

"You have no idea how worried I was when you disappeared, David," Maria said, "I thought that you were—" Her monologue halted when she felt a cold blade against her throat.

Maria heard a familiar voice speak to her saying, "Release me, human." Only, it sounded so cold. She looked up to see that the voice belonged to "David".

Slowly, she unbound herself from him and stepped back, "David's" Keyblade pointed straight at her.

"David" looked at Scott and Cathy. "You two, get over here, or I'll slay you where you are. Needless to say, the two got up and stood by Maria.

Hmmmm…, "David" thought, eying them over. Two females and one male. Threat level, none. Fear level, high. Hmmmmm…

"If it will put your minds at ease," The Heartless said emotionlessly and lowering his Keyblade, "I have no desire whatsoever to kill you. My purpose is as an Anti-Nobody fighter." His black keyblade blinked out of his hands and disappeared.

Hmmm…, "David" thought, that didn't seem to calm them very much. So he continued.

"I will not harm you. I am merely going to transport you to the Traveler Heartless home world of Grand Kelm. There your hearts will be freed of your mortal shells and—"

"No way, man!" the male said angrily taking a step forward. "David" merely narrowed his eyes and the male's bravado disintegrated. The male stepped back to his original spot next to the two females.

Why is so he mad, "David" wondered. Then he remembered one of the things he learned while he was in the Dark Abyss.

**Sentient species have an aversion towards having their hearts freed.**

**This is understandable because they cannot comprehend that we are doing this to free them of their tiresome, temporary existence.**

Suddenly, "David" wished he had learned more in his short time in the Abyss. He was only given rudimentary knowledge as he was born only minutes ago and thrust onto the battlefield. He decided that when he got to Grand Kelm he would receive the remainder of his education. His mind was buzzing with all sorts of questions due to the holes in his knowledge.

Questions like:

How would he get to Grand Kelm?

Who were those two cloaked figures he fought?

How could he convince these humans to go with him?

And…

He focused his gaze on the female who had spoken to him earlier.

Maria almost jumped when "David" looked at her. His once pale brown eyes had been replaced by deep black eyes. His expression was empty except for a short flash of confusion from when Scott yelled at him. What's wrong with him? She wondered.

"David" turned towards the town. "Follow," He commanded. Maria and Cathy followed him as he walked towards the town. Scott decided to make a break for it in the opposite direction.

Suddenly, "David" disappeared in front of the girls. He was now in front of a frozen, wide-eyed Scott. He looked Scott in the face and spoke again, "That was not a suggestion. **Follow.**" Scott wisely obeyed. The group walked silently into town.

When they arrived, the calmness of the town had been replaced by cold, eerie silence. Silence and devastation was spread out as far as the three friends could see. Cars were toppled, windows were shattered, and buildings were smashed.

However, the most terrible thing was (as strange as this might sound) was that there were no bodies. It occurred to Scott that everyone had been sucked into darkness like David. The thought came to Cathy quite quickly. She rushed past "David" and ran to a building that had a general store in the front and a home in the back, her home.

"David" almost stopped her, but when she ran inside and her friends followed, he figured they would stay there.

"David" walked behind another building nearby to find a Heartless drop-ship and examined it, lessons from the Abyss filling him with knowledge.

As "David" examined the drop-ship, Cathy frantically searched her home.

"Mom? Dad? Where are you," She yelled, her face teary. She ran between the torn rooms searching up and down repeatedly.

Maria and Scott waited for Cathy in the store part of the building. Maria took a step towards the door in the back that led to the home section. Scott held an arm out in front of her, stopping her. Scott shook his head, silently saying that they should wait for Cathy.

Eventually, Cathy emerged from the rooms, her eyes teary and red. She sat down and held her head in her hands. Scott almost put a hand on her shoulder, but he pulled it back.

Maria felt similar to Cathy. She was just better at hiding her emotions. She wandered off to the side and she thought of her parents.

Scott stood in silence. He didn't fee as strongly about his parents. They broke up years ago and he didn't feel wanted by either of them since he was constantly passed between them. Still…, He thought sadly, I would have never wished the Heartless on them.

Maria turned back to Scott and spoke in a cracked voice. "Scott… what were those things? What's wrong with David?"

Scott sighed and sat down. It was time for him to come clean.

"It all began seven years ago," Scott began, "David and I had to go with David's mom to the library. She often went there to relax and read a book. David and I weren't much at home with all the silence and books. So we roamed around, hiding behind bookcases from anyone who came by. We were pretending to be spies or ninjas or something. Anyway, we ran through an aisle in the back of the library when David knocked a book off a shelf. He turned around and picked it up.

"It was an old, brown book with no title and a page had been marked with a little tab. David opened the book to that part and saw a picture of a Heartless fighting a Nobody. The book was old, but the pictures looked pretty good and it looked typed out. It was a book of journals, pictures, and lab notes of some guy named, Zonax. He was a student of some professor guy named Ansem and he was on a team that studied Heartless, Nobodies, and the Keyblades.

"It was really weird to me, but David was really into it after he saw that one page. Our "running-around-in-the-library days" were over. For the next two years, he talked about what he read to me, drew his own sketches of Heartless, and pretended to wield a Keyblade."

"So this Zonax guy researched these Heartless things?" Maria asked. Scott nodded.

"You see," Scott continued, "Heartless are things that are born when people are swallowed by darkness and their hearts leave their bodies. The Heart is a person's soul and emotions. It looks like a red crystal. The Heart uses the darkness around it to create a new body and host for itself. But you see… the Heart becomes a battery and darkness consumes their minds. The stronger the Heart, the more powerful the new body. The newly born Heartless then roams worlds with its kind, devouring worlds and turning their people into more Heartless. They travel by taking what's left of a world and making ships that can travel between worlds, looking for Hearts to devour."

"Wait, wait," Maria interrupted again, "You said 'other worlds' and 'people' you mean there are other planets out there with people like us?"

"More or less," Scott said back, "I didn't believe in other worlds back then, but I didn't believe in Heartless either and well…"

"Ah," Maria said, taking all this new info in.

"One question," Cathy piped up, "What are the Keyblades and Nobodies you mentioned?"

"Well…" Scott began. Maria and Cathy listened intently.

Scott leaned back in his seat, "I don't know." Maria and Cathy gave aggravated sighs. "Well… I got scared by David's stories of Heartless that I wouldn't let him tell me about anything else."

Suddenly, the door to the store opened wide. "David" appeared in the door, his face still emotionless.

"Come on," He commanded, the three friends looked at each other.

Maria rose and stood in front of "David" and spoke, "David, what're you doing?"

"David" just looked at her with his black eyes. "You don't have to do this. You don't want to do this, do you?" She was almost at tears again.

Scott flinched, did Maria actually think she could convince this **thing** to let them go.

"Listen, human," "David" said with a hint of aggravation. "I'm delivering you to Grand Kelm because it is my duty. I do not break from my kind's will."

"Also…," "David" said throwing a cold glance at Scott and then returning to Maria, "I could hear your 'explanation' of my kind and your information is full of holes. Also, stop calling me David.

"I do not know you, human."

Maria gasped. A tear finally escaped her eye.

This wasn't David.

It was a Monster with his face.

End of Part 2


	3. Chapter 3: The Keyblade

Kindred Hearts by Copper Thrice

Pt 3

The Keyblade

"David" led the three humans to a Heartless Drop-ship. The ship was long, smooth slab of dark metal with a slanted cockpit. With a wave of "David's" gauntleted hand, a door opened in the side of the ship into a rectangular room with a door to the cockpit.

"David" led the three humans into the ship, into a rectangular, plain room with a door to the cockpit. "David" closed the door behind him and opened the door to the cockpit. He entered the cockpit, closing the door on his way in, leaving the humans to the silence of the empty room.

Scott, Cathy, and Maria each took their own walls, silently thinking of their hometown and their destination.

The hours rolled by and they went into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

"David" sat at the pilot's console of the ship. It was a cockpit designed for up to three humanoid Heartless. One station, in front of the view into space, was the pilot's console. To the right side was the Weapons Manger console, where an additional pilot could man the top-side turret. To the left was a seat for a Heartless Receiver, who could receive long-range telepathic messages from Grand Kelm or a Heartless carrier.

After getting used to the controls, "David" put the ship on auto-pilot and leaned back into his chair. He turned his head to see the weapon's console and his reflection. He grew surprised; he had never really seen his face before. It was pretty much the only remnant of his past self, he could not remember his past life.

"David" ran his hand through his hair and along his chin and forehead. He had been born from Darkness with a mask that looked like the symbol of the Heartless, but it was damaged in an earlier fight. His face looked like it had similar features to the humans, especially the male. He supposed that he could make a new mask and helmet out of Darkness, but he couldn't help feeling that this face felt, well… right.

"David's" thoughts then went to the humans he had picked up. They confused him. His knowledge of humans was very sketchy; his Heartless knowledge only provided a few key concepts for his survival along with brief histories of his kind.

"I wonder if I should…," "David" thought, "No, it would be a waste of time. Although…" "David" looked at the Pilot console to check on the arrival time. There was still 184 rot.s (15 hours) to Grand Kelm at this speed. "David" then decided to ask the humans about what it was to be, well, human. No problem, right?

* * *

Maria woke from her uneasy sleep to see that Scott and Cathy were still asleep at opposite walls. She closed her eyes and hoped to open them to see her room back home in her bed after a whacked out dream. She opened her eyes to; once again, see the blank walls of the ship.

Maria sighed as she stood up and did some stretches to work the kinks out of her body. Only a minute afterwards did the door to the cockpit opened and "David" walked out. Maria jumped. Seeing David' head on a Heartless body was still kind of… unnerving.

"David" looked at Scott and Cathy and looked like he was debating something in his mind. Then he turned to Maria.

"I would speak with you for a moment, come," "David" said holding his hand out to the open door. Maria walked through the door and "David" followed.

Before the door closed, Cathy poked her head up and saw Maria with the Heartless. "Maria?" she asked lazily, watching the door close.

* * *

"Sit," instructed "David" pointing to the Receiver's chair. Maria did so and then she saw the view into space.

"Wow," she said, amazed at the vastness and emptiness of space. She couldn't believe it; she was actually in outer space. "David", however did not share her enthusiasm with space, so he began his questions.

"Is their something wrong with your… companions? I saw them lying on the floor, unmoving." "David" said.

"What, oh, no there's nothing wrong. They're just sleeping." Maria said, she turned away from the view to see that confusion covered "David's" face. "Oh, you see humans get tired and need to rest. You do know what its like to be human, right?"

"David" acquired even more confusion from that. "I was human?" he thought. Then it all made sense to him.

He had a human face.

This female had called him a human name.

He appeared on a planet where humans were the populace and he was probably made from one of those humans.

What was the name she called him? This female said it once or twice… What was it?

"I was human," "David" said, "My name was… David…"

Maria stood up, smiling, "You remember?" she asked excitedly.

"No…" "David" said, causing her smile to fade. "I just pieced together bits of information that I gathered."

"Oh," said Maria sitting down, then she grinned, "It's a start though."

"You shouldn't expect too much out of me," "David" said, "I was only born yesterday, after all. Now—" But "David" didn't get a chance to finish his question because Maria had burst out laughing. Suddenly, "David" went red and it felt very hot in the cockpit all of a sudden.

"What's going on?" David thought, "What's happening to me?"

"Scott! Scott!" yelled Cathy, trying to shake Scott into the waking world. Scott slowly opened his eyes. His night was not the most restful, his dreams were full of images of Heartless and other Dark things.

"What is it," he lazily asked Cathy while sitting up.

"Scott, I saw Maria being taken through that door over there with that, uh, Heartless thing. You know, the one that looks like David. Have we already gotten to that "Grand" place?" Scott could tell that Cathy was worried.

"Look," Scott said trying to calm her down, "If we were at the Heartless home world, the Heartless would have taken all of us, not just Maria. "Still…" he thought, "Why did the Heartless take Maria to the cockpit…?"

Cathy was breathing heavily. Scott tried a different calming tactic.

"Look," he started, "I'm sure Maria's fine. She can take care of herself, right?" Cathy nodded and calmed down a little bit. "Yeesh," Scott thought lying back down, "She was so calm back home, but now she's a wreck." He looked over at her. "I guess I can understand though, I don't even know why I'm taking all this in so calmly."

Cathy soon quieted down and the two sat in silence wondering what was going on in the cockpit. Then they heard the sound of Maria laughing and they just gave each other a look.

When Maria stopped laughing, she wiped a tear from her eye and "David" resumed his normal complexion.

Maria then asked her own question. "What was that thing you used to fight those grey guys back home? It was called a… Keyblade right?"

"David" sighed, he was all too glad for the subject change. He held out his hand and the black Keyblade blinked into existence. "This is a Keyblade," he said. Maria eyes followed its form back and forth.

"It is one of the few types of weapons that can actually harm Heartless and Nobodies. The Keyblade was the first weapon that humans found to use against my kind hundreds of years ago. That was when there were hundreds of Keyblade Masters." Maria nodded for him to continue.

"You see, the Heart is the core of a sentient being. It houses emotion and being. The Shell is the outer portion of the being. It houses memory and willpower. Between the two is Essence. This is a form of energy that connects memory to emotions. When the Heart is separated from the shell, the essence flows freely, trying to obtain form. It is then that it can be forged into a weapon. That is how a Keyblade is formed. I am the first Heartless to be born with a Keyblade in hand. It's a part of me." At that, "David" caused the Keyblade to vanish. "Now it has rejoined my Heart Core and I can call it out when I need it." The "David" thought of something. Why did he know so much about the Keyblade? That wasn't covered by the Darkness in the Abyss.

"Heh," chuckled Maria, "You probably got the Keyblade because you wanted one so badly as a kid."

"Huh?" "David" said confused.

Maria just shook her head. She then reached into her jean pocket.

"Do you have a name?" she asked.

"No… I don't." "David" said, "Only Heartless leaders or generals get specific names."

"Well then," Maria said standing up. "Your name is David," she said taking a step towards him. "And this is yours."

She grabbed David's gauntleted hand and that caused David to go red again. She put some kind of keychain in his hand. It was a four-pointed, black star surrounded by a silver ring and it had a red stone in the center. David eyed its form and he felt its smoothness.

"It belongs to you anyway," Maria said, "It was your good luck charm. You let me borrow it a year ago." David then looked straight at her.

"Wait," he said, "Did you know—" but David was interrupted by the sound of proximity alarms. David turned to his console to see red dots on the radar. Lots of red dots. Something in him told him that was not good; especially since three red dots just broke off towards the drop-ship.

"What's going on?" asked Maria looking around. David took over for the auto-pilot and opened the door to the back, revealing a very surprised Cathy and Scott.

"Get back there," David yelled at Maria, "I can't have you humans up here with me. You'd just be a distraction." Just then a grey fighter shot overhead. Seeing this, Maria went into the back and the door closed behind her.

"So," Cathy asked Maria, "What was with the laughing?" Scott also shared her confused look. Maria just dropped her jaw.

* * *

David put the charm on the console's corner and primed the forward weapons. They weren't much, but he had to work with them. He spiraled the ship's course and confused the Nobody fighters. The he whipped behind two of them and blasted them into space dust.

David smiled, this felt good. This was what he was born to do.

Kill Nobodies

* * *

Narax rose lazily from his plain bed in the Nobody Mothership. He looked sat up to the sound of proximity alarms. He moaned and tried to go back to sleep.

Then the door to Narax's room opened to reveal a slender, cloaked female figure.

She was a little older than Narax, but they both had silver-grey hair and she also had fair, although more feminine, features. Her attitude was quite a bit colder than Narax's though. Narax got out of bed when he saw her.

"Hey, Leenx, what's up?" Narax said.

Leenx turned her cold, golden eyes to him. "Ronx wants to see you in the meeting hall." She said emotionlessly.

"Okay, whatever you say, sis," Narax said folding his arms behind his head and following her. On the way to the hall, they passed all kinds of grey soldiers who went about their days silently working on the ship.

"What's with the alarms," Narax asked Leenx.

"We encountered a straggler Heartless drop-ship. Nothing to worry about," Leenx said emotionlessly.

When the two got to the meeting hall door, Leenx swiped her hand over the door and it opened to reveal a new cloaked figure. Narax's arms dropped and he looked at cloaked figure's face.

"I would like to introduce you two to our newest member and now the leader of our Organization Zero." Said the voice of Ronx sitting in the meeting hall.

"N-no way," Narax said, "You?"

* * *

David drove the ship in circles and loops to evade the grey fighters. He had managed to destroy the fighters that originally followed him, but seven more had broken off to fight him.

Before David had gotten a hold of things, he had almost all of them clinging to his tail.

"This is not good." David thought, "I'm a warrior, not a pilot!"

David brought his ship into a loop, in hopes of getting behind the enemy ships.

Mistake

A ship that was in front of David had let a volley of fire loose at the drop-ship. The connector for the cockpit to the carrier section was hit and destroyed in the attack. The carrier containing the three humans broke off from the main section of the ship.

David watched as the console read off the alarm for the damages. He should go back, he thought, he had to do something. Then his logic kicked in. No he couldn't go back. The connector was shot, literally. He couldn't do anything. He set his ship's emergency engines on max and shot out of the fight, leaving the carrier to the swarming grey fighters.

* * *

Scott slowly stood up. The room had just been rocked by a serious vibration and the three of them fell down. "What just happened?" he thought.

A few minutes later, the door opened. Maria almost ran to it to find David, but instead two grey guards entered. They were followed by a familiar cloaked figure.

"Well, well," said the smiling Narax. "We meet again."

End of pt 3


	4. Chapter 4: The Nobodies

Kindred Hearts

A fanfic by Copper Thrice

The Nobodies

* * *

A lone, black-cloaked figure watched as the three runaway humans were led out of the Heartless drop-ship.

Behind the figure rose a black portal and out of it came the mildly agitated Narax.

"So, _Leader_," Narax said sarcastically, "What are we gonna do with the humans?"

The figure stood in thought for a moment, then turned to Narax.

* * *

Maria, Scott, and Cathy were led by two, silent, grey guards to a holding cell in the bowels of the ship.

They were led down a dark corridor to an uninventive, barred jail-cell that was half-shrouded in darkness.

One Nobody guard slid his gloved hand over the cell's lock and the door opened.

Suddenly, a dark portal appeared and the boy, Narax, walked out of it.

"Hold on, guys," he said to the guards, "The _Leader_ wants to talk with that one." Narax pointed to Maria. The guards obediently released her.

Narax stood to the side of the portal and motioned for Maria to enter it. Maria turned towards her two friends and gave them a worried look.

"C'mon, girl, we don't have all day!" said Narax impatiently. Maria swallowed and took a step into the portal. Narax followed her and the portal disappeared.

The guards wasted no time and forced Scott and Cathy into the jail-cell. After that they locked the cell and walked into the corridor, fading into darkness.

Scott sat down and Cathy began to pace around

"So," said a voice from the dark portion of the cell. Cathy and Scott turned to see a young man walking out from the dark half of the cell.

He was tall with short, blonde hair and he wore a denim vest with a white shirt and blue jeans. However, most notable was that he had a tail. It was as blonde as his hair ad it moved lazily behind him. On his face was a very smug look.

"So," the man continued, "What'cha in for?" Scott and Cathy shot each other a look.

* * *

Maria found herself walking down a dark corridor. It was cold and she couldn't see the walls. All she could hear was Narax's and her own footsteps. At the end of a corridor was a light and Maria felt like she was being drawn towards it.

Eventually, she and Narax stepped out of the portal into a large, white room with a large table and many chairs surrounding it.

Narax looked around and huffed. "Figures, the guy tells me to bring you here and he doesn't even show." Narax crossed his arms impatiently.

Then a new portal appeared and out of it came a slender, black-cloaked figure. His hood was drawn over his face.

The figure motioned for Narax to leave. Narax looked at Maria, then at the figure, then he turned to his portal and disappeared along with it.

"Well," the figure said in a voice that sounded very familiar to Maria. "We meet again. Or is this the first time we've met?" The figure laughed. "Sorry, that sounded so much better when I practiced it."

The figure took a step towards Maria. "Allow me to introduce myself." He pulled back his hood and Maria's eyes widened in confusion.

"My name is Viddax," he said.

He looked just like David, only with silver eyes.

"What's going on?" Maria thought.

* * *

"Hello?" asked the tailed man, "Are you gonna answer my question?"

"Uhm, I'm Cathy and this is Scott," said Cathy shakily. Scott was still surprised by the man's appearance. "We don't really know why we're here. These Heartless things attacked our home town and…" Cathy just let her words fall, letting how it sounded sink into her. It was the truth, but she didn't like it. She made it sound so trivial.

"Ahhhh…" said the man crossing his arms and nodding, "You're in the same boat as us."

"Us?" asked Scott.

"Yeah, me and… Hang on a sec." The man walked into the dark corner and brought out a girl about his age. She was wearing a tattered white cloak with red trim. She had long, black hair and she probably looked very pretty, but sadness seemed to radiate from her.

The man set her down on a wall in the light where she just curled up. The man sighed looking at her worriedly.

"My name is Zidane and this…" he said motioning to the girl, "Is Garnet. Our planet was hit by Heartless too."

"Oh," said Scott.

"Anywho," said Zidane walking over to Garnet and sitting down next to her, "what's your story?"

Cathy turned to Scott, "You tell it. I don't want to." She then sat down near the bars.

Scott sighed, "Alright. It began just yesterday. You see I had a friend named David who…" And Scott began to tell their story.

* * *

David piloted the remains of the Heartless drop-ship through space. He checked the diagnostics on his pilot's console. It was then that he saw the charm that the girl had given him.

David picked it up in his gauntleted hand, moving his fingers over the red stone in the center.

"What was her name?" he thought. He had heard the other female say some name or did the girl mention it?

"Maria," he said thoughtfully as he held up the charm.

Then he shook his head, he should stick to his orders.

Get back to Grand Kelm and report to the leader of his Heartless breed.

He set down the charm and set back to his journey into space.

* * *

Maria took a step back from the David look-a-like.

"How…" she thought aloud.

Viddax chuckled, "I get it. According to Narax's 'colorful' report of what occurred yesterday. You've met with the Heartless who looks like me. Well, if you think that either of us is the real David, you're half right."

Viddax took a step towards Maria, who backed into a chair and sat down.

Viddax sat down in a chair near her. "I'll answer your questions later, but now onto business. You were led here because you might have had information about the Signet."

"The Signet was a charm that was given to you by David some time ago, Maria. It is what the Organizations are after."

"How did you know my name?" Maria asked.

Viddax gave her an incredulous, but cold look. "Don't you know anything about Nobodies, yeesh."

"Man," thought Maria, "This guy may look like David, but he's kind of a jerk."

"You see… Nobodies are the remnants of people who have been turned into Heartless. We are the incarnation of strong wills and memories left behind. Now, can I continue?"

Maria nodded.

"Now I already know that you lost the charm that David gave you a long while back. Man," Viddax chuckled, "He was so heartbroken when you finally told him. He found it in Zonax's journal and gave it to you."

Maria blinked. It was true that she lost the charm but she had found it two days ago and she was… Maria almost gasped. She was going to give it back to David at the park. That's why she called him, but... Then the Heartless hit…

"Wait…" Maria said quietly. Viddax silenced and looked at her with his silver eyes. "If you know that I don't have the… Signet. Then why did you call me here?"

Viddax grinned, "I have a different use for you."

Maria began to feel very, very uncomfortable.

* * *

"Wow," said Zidane as Scott finished telling his view on what happened over the course of a few days. It all seemed do unreal to Scott, but Zidane took it in without interruption. "Your story is pretty similar to the attack on our Home-world. The Heartless just swooped in and… bam, yur world's gone." Zidane slapped his knee.

"Now I don't know about you, but I was a good fighter back on my world. I was a member of a… troupe that… did…" Zidane paused for a few moments.

"Illegal stuff," Scott filled in.

Zidane nodded his head back and forth, "Sometimes, sometimes not. Anyway, we got an assignment, from a king mind you, to, uh, retrieve someone from another person and, or people usually in a fashion against their will."

"You had to kidnap someone?" Cathy asked.

"Well it sounds bad if you put it that way," Zidane said, "But yeah, pretty much. In fact, that mission, is how I met Garnet." Zidane shot a grin at Garnet who let the ghost of a smile pass her face.

"You mean, you met her on the mission?" asked Cathy.

"Actually…" said Zidane, "She was our mission."

"Huh," said both Scott and Cathy.

"Ya see… I was sent to kidnap Garnet here and ship her to a king of a nearby kingdom. I just didn't expect to her to be so… willing. I told her that I was there to kidnap her and she just came along." Zidane chuckled. "She was a lot more lively back then, though. Man, we had to get through some tough times to get her to the destination and we met the weirdest people." Zidane paused to allow all the memories to flood back into him.

"In the end though," he said sadly, looking at Garnet, "Losing your entire world… does stuff to people. Especially if you don't know what was going on and not knowing why."

Scott and Cathy glanced at each other.

"I could get us outta here pretty easily. My weapon was forged with stuff that allows it to actually hurt these Nobody and Heartless things. Problem is…" Zidane looked out of the cell and at a hatch on the opposite wall. "My weapon is in that hatch there and I can't get to it…" Zidane sighed.

"So," said Scott leaning forward. "What do we do?"

Zidane thought for a moment. "Well, we could wait for a miracle."

"Great…" said Scott sarcastically.

* * *

"Let me fill you in on Nobodies," Viddax said. "You see. There are thirteen Organizations and then there's mine, Organization Zero. The Organizations are groups of humanoid Nobodies that work together to achieve their goals."

"Organizations One through Eleven are after the Signet. They believe that by using it they can restore their emotions, because you see… Nobodies have no real emotions. We copy our emotions from the ones we 'remember' from our past lives. So, Nobodies naturally try to seek a way to 'feel' again."

"Organizations Twelve and Thirteen are researching the Kingdom Hearts and also they want to find a way to find a way to feel in the process."

"When a Nobody is born…" Viddax said, "It has only two questions running through its mind. The first is 'How do I survive?' A Nobody asks this because if we… die I guess is the right word, die, then we return to the nothingness from which we were born. We simply cease to exist." Viddax looked off to the side in thought.

"Woah," thought Maria. She almost felt sorry for him, but then again… If Nobodies can't have emotions then this is just a trick to toy with her. Still… There was something behind Viddax's speech that got to her. She listened as he continued.

"The next question is 'How can I feel again?' Nobodies WANT to feel again, because they remember the times they actually COULD feel." Viddax sighed.

"Wait," Maria said interrupting again, "You said that you were from Organization Zero… You didn't mention what your goal was."

Viddax's eyes became dodgy all of a sudden. "You see…" He said choosing his words. My Organization does the dirty work for the other Thirteen. We maneuver Traveler Heartless fleets to sentient-inhabited worlds where we let them raid and we pick up any Nobodies that are—"

Maria stood up, anger in her eyes. "You! Your group sent those Heartless to my Home-town. You set them on my friends and family!?"

"Well, I wasn't leader around the time that—" But his excuse was too late, because Maria pulled back a fist and punched Viddax in the face.

She pulled back her hand, surprised. Viddax's head turned, but mostly out of reflex. It was her hand that came out hurting. She took a step back as Viddax stood up and felt his cheek.

He looked down at Maria who now realized just how strong this guy really was. She felt powerless, like he emanated some kind of aura of power around himself. She let a tear fall from her eye. She was powerless here. She felt a deep fear in the pit of her stomach.

Viddax stepped closer and used his hand to brush the tear from her cheek. Maria flinched back. Viddax then examined it and then brushed it off on his cloak.

"It's interesting…" he said getting closer to her, "The memories that David had of you are so… full of emotion. Just by looking over them and being near you I… can almost…" Viddax got even closer to Maria, who was as stiff as a board.

Maria could feel his cloak and the faint aura he gave off come closer, closer…

Then an explosion rocked the ship. Viddax stepped a few paces backwards and looked around.

"What happened?" he thought aloud. "What hit us?"

Suddenly there was more rocking and the door to the Meeting hall burst open.

Amid the smoke came out a Nobody guard.

"You there!" Yelled Viddax at the guard, "What's going—" Viddax didn't finish his question because the Nobody quickly disintegrated into nothingness.

In the midst of the smoke came out a familiar figure to Maria.

"Get away from him, Maria!" yelled the Heartless David. He then held out his hand and his Keyblade blinked into existence.

End of Part 4


End file.
